Climbing Tungurahua (16,480ft/5.023m) in 2 days

Itinerary

Day 1: Quito (9,186ft/2.800m)– Tungurahua refuge (12,467ft/3.800m)

We will drive in the morning south from Quito (9,186ft/2.800m) for about 2,5 hours towards the city of Ambato (8,858ft/2.700m) through the Avenue of the Volcanoes and then we will turn left and keep driving down for about an hour more towards the jungle directions, just before the town of Baños at about (5,906ft/1.800m), will change again the driving direction to the south to get the Sangay National Park entrance and finally will drive still for about 40 minutesuntil we get (9,186ft/2.800m), where our vehicle will be left, from this point we willstart our3,5 hours hike to the Tungurahua Refuge (12,467ft/3.800m), this trail will leadsus through a very impressive vegetation zone, as we hike higher we will notice manylife zones and how the vegetation will changegradually to a shorter one and less diverse. We will get dinner and overnight at this place (-/BL/D)

Day 2:Tungurahua Summit (16,480ft/5.023m) – Quito (9,186ft/2.800m)

We will wake up very early in the morning will get some light breakfast and prepare all our needed equipment, we will still start walking on some short Coriaceous vegetation forabout 1,5 hours, then the trail will turn into a sandy and scree terrains for most of the ascension, depending on theweather conditions the very lastpart will be snowed, so it will be necessaryto bring and use our crampons,after5 to 6 hours of this very exceptional adventure, we finally will get our prize, ¡the summit of Tungurahua!, where we could really admire the impressive deep crater, the beautiful surrounding mountains like El Altar, Sangay, Chimborazo among other, the greenestof the Amazon Jungleon the east side of the Mountain and much more;depending on the weather conditionswe will stay on the summit for several minutes, and then we will start our descent to the refugefor about 2 to 3 hours, we will rest for a few minutes and will pack our belongings in order to keep going down for another 2 hours to where our vehicle was left on the previous day; from this point we will driveeither to Baños town (5,906ft/1.800m) for the hot springsor straight to Quito, it will depend on our time and energy. The drive back to Quito will take us still another 3,5 hours (B/BL/-)

Leading Tour Operator in mountaineering in Ecuador. We offer outdoor programs in the South American continent, from very easy trekking, moderate hikes to technical high altitude climbs, according to the client’s skills and desires.